Letting Go
by ThisLadyWrites
Summary: Sharon knew it would happen. She also knew it would happen soon. She had started preparing herself for it months ago. But despite that, it came as a surprise. Sharon/Andy/Rusty
1. Chapter 1

**Hello my dear readers!**

**I recently discovered "Major Crimes" and completely and totally fell in love with it. Especially with Sharon, Rusty and Andy. And Provenza is pretty great too, isn't he? :D I watched all the available episodes within one week and now I just can't wait for Nov 24! So I decided to write a fic to pass the time until season 3 continues.**

**English is not my mother tongue so please excuse my mistakes.**

**Now read! :D**

* * *

><p>Sharon knew it would happen. She also knew it would happen soon. She had started preparing herself for it months ago. But despite that, it came as a surprise.<p>

She had a hard time holding back her tears when he told her. But she managed to do it. For him. She simply refused to do anything that would make him feel guilty. It would only crush her even more. What she did instead was smile and squeeze his hand.

* * *

><p>Andy spent a ridiculous amount of time looking at her. On uneventful days, when the blinds in her office weren't closed, he often forgot about his paper work and watched her trough the glass wall until Provenza slapped his shoulder and told him to stop drooling. But the moment the older lieutenant turned away from him again, Andy's eyes were back on her. His eyes were drawn to her and there was nothing he could do about it. She fascinated him. And this fascination made it hard to tear his eyes away.<p>

Today the blinds in her office were closed. They weren't closed very often. Usually just when something serious was going on. When they were working on a particularly terrible case and she needed a moment to herself or when she had a meeting with Taylor or a talk with one of the team members. None of this was the case today.

And this only meant one thing: Whatever was going on with her was personal.

And even though it was none of his business he was determined to find out what it was that made her close those blinds.

* * *

><p>Andy knocked and waited a few moments before he opened her office door and stuck his head through the crack between the frame and door. "Captain?"<p>

"Lieutenant. What can I do for you?"

It was weird to hear her call him Lieutenant again. For the last few weeks she'd always called him Andy. And sometimes – especially when they were alone – he had called her by her first name too.

"Do you have a minute?"

"Sure." She pointed at the empty chair in front of her desk, inviting him to sit down.

"Is there a problem?", she wants to know.

"I don't know, you tell me."

Sharon looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"

"Captain…" He stopped, thought about it and decided to go with her first name. "… Sharon… I noticed that something's up. And I was wondering if you wanted to talk about it?"

"Oh great!"

Now it was Andy that looked confused. "What?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"That something is bothering you?"

She nodded. "The last thing I need is Rusty to notice."

"What's going on?" He asked again. His voice soft and calm.

"Nothing." Sharon sighed. "At least it should be nothing."

He looked at her, patiently waiting for her to continue. And she did: "It's just me making a big deal out if something that is actually good news."

"The divorce?"

"What?! No! No… not at all. Jack gave me a hard time when I asked him to sign the papers but he eventually did. Everything's fine on that front." She assured. "… It's Rusty."

"His mother again?"

"This mother." Sharon pointed her index finger at herself. It made Andy smile.

"Rusty decided that he wants to move into a dorm room at UCLA." She said. "And it is absolutely fine. I want him to do that, I want him to have the full college experience but…"

"But it's hard to let go." Andy finished the sentence for her.

She smiled a sad smile and nodded. "He just moved in… he just became part of the family and now he is already moving out again." There were tears forming in her eyes and she hated it. Not just because she did not want to cry in front of Andy, it was also because there was no reason for her to cry. Rusty was doing fine, he was leading a normal, happy life, he was doing what every other kid his age did as well. There was absolutely no reason for her to be that upset.

"When my other kids moved out it was hard too. But it seems much harder with Rusty… He has been through so much… I don't know how to switch off this urge to want to keep him around forever so I can protect him and make sure he is alright."

"Rusty is gonna be fine. He is a clever kid… And he knows he can always come back home if he wants to.

"I know." She whispered and smiled at him thankfully.

He knew she knew. But he had needed to say it anyway. To assure her.

And she was thankful for that.

Andy watched her as she wiped away a tear that had escaped her left eye. He wished he could get up from that chair and wipe it away himself but he would cross a line if he did that and he wasn't sure she wanted him to cross that line. And today wasn't the best day to cross lines anyway. She was upset and vulnerable. He better waited with the line crossing till she was feeling better. The only problem was: He wasn't good at waiting. So he decided that he would just step on the line instead of crossing it.

His hand moved across the desk and took her hand in his. Sharon was surprised but she didn't pull away. His hand felt too warm and too soft to break the contact. His thumb softly caressed two of her fingers. But only once. She didn't know if it was on purpose or by accident

"Rusty is really lucky to have you." Andy said – his voice hardly louder than a whisper – and he squeezed her hand.

His words touched her. More than he could imagine. She swallowed the lump in her throat and squeezed back. "I'm lucky to have him." She said and meant every word of it.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! You guys are great!<strong>

**This was the Sharon/Andy part of this story. The Sharon/Rusty part follows soon... If you want it. Do you? ;)  
><strong>

**Take care :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you sooo much for all your lovely reviews deenikn8 , flagwoman, ProfTweety, AmorTv90 and Megan429. And thank you to everyone who sent me a message. You guys are amazing!**

**Here's part 2 of my little story.**

**I hope you are ready for mothership fluff… because this is what you are going to get :D**

* * *

><p>When Sharon got home that evening she found Rusty lolling on the couch, watching TV. Several pieces of popcorn were scattered on the coffee table and an empty can of coke was lying on her rug.<p>

She wanted to be mad about the mess but couldn't bring herself to be angry. It warmed her heart to see how comfortable he felt around her apartment. It truly had become his home, his retreat, his safe place and she was proud of it.

"How was your day?" Sharon asked after getting rid of her shoes and dropping down on the couch next to Rusty.

"Ok", the teenager said without so much as looking at her.

Sharon grabbed the remote control from the table and paused the movie he was watching. "How was your day?", she asked again, expecting a proper answer this time.

Rusty sighed. Of course a simple "ok" would not be enough information for Sharon. "It was good. I played chess with Dave."

"Dave." Sharon smiled. "You mention his name often lately."

"He has a girlfriend," Rusty immediately clarified. He didn't want Sharon to get any ideas. Dave was nice and everything but even if he was gay, he was not someone Rusty would fall in love with.

"Ok." Sharon just said. "What else did you do? Apart from watching TV and making a mess?"

"Uh… sorry." Rusty looked at all the popcorn on the coffee table. "I actually meant to clean this up before you got home."

"You better do it now then." Sharon said in that bossy but soft voice of hers which used to confuse the crap out of him. How could she sound so nice and threatening at the same time? It probably was a police trick or something.

* * *

><p>Sharon was already in her pajamas when she knocked on Rusty's door. She entered the room after she heard a muffled "come in."<p>

"I made you cocoa." She put a mug on his bedside table.

"Thanks." Rusty put away the book he had just been reading and immediately took a sip of the hot beverage.

"I wanted to talk to you", Sharon said.

"Ok."

"Can I sit down?"

Rusty's answer was to scoot over and Sharon sat down on the edge of his bed.

"So what is it?"

It took her a few moments to gather the strength to mention his moving out without tearing up. "I want you to know that this room here will always be yours. You can come back whenever you want. No explanation needed."

"I know that, Sharon."

She smiled at him and patted his knee. "I know you do…" She had just wanted to tell him anyway.

"Ok."

"It's going to be really quiet without you around", Sharon said after a moment of silence.

"And like really clean."

Both of them laughed.

Silence again.

"Sharon?"

"Hm?"

"I ehm… I thought about it again and… "

"And?"

"Would you mind if I didn't… didn't move out just yet?"

Sharon's heart made a little happy dance.

Rusty continued his rambling: "I know I have to move out eventually… and I will… It's just… I have never lived that long in one place before… And it feels like I just got here…"

"This is your home Rusty. You can stay as long as you want." She smiled the most genuine smile he had ever seen.

"Even though I make a mess like every other day?" He smirked.

"As long as you clean it up afterwards we won't have a problem." She assured with a grin and leaned back against the headboard of the bed.

It was the very first time that she actually made herself comfortable on his bed. So far she had hardly even dared to sit down on the edge of it. But today she felt that it was ok. And Rusty didn't object.

"You know…" Rusty suddenly said. "In a very weird and screwed up way I'm kind of glad that things happened the way they happened."

"What do you mean?"

"If my mom hadn't done what she had done I wouldn't have ended up here…" He swallowed the lump in his throat and continued. "… with you. And I'd never have known what it means to have a mom who like really cares about you, a mom who really wants what's best for you."

A warm feeling shot through Sharon's entire body and tears were threatening to fall. Those words had killed her. They had killed her in the most beautiful way possible.

"You are going to cry, aren't you?" Rusty looked at her.

She laughed and shook her head no. But she couldn't prevent a tear from escaping.

Rusty playfully rolled his eyes whereupon Sharon put her arms around him and hugged him firmly.

"I'm not sure I can breath", Rusty croaked.

"If you can talk, you can breathe", Sharon said and squeezed harder.

-end-

* * *

><p><strong>This story kind of took another turn than actually intended. Hope you liked it anyway :) <strong>

**I think it's a bit OOC and I apologize for that. I already started making lists with the most important characteristics and flaws of each character so let's hope this list will help me to improve my fics.**

**Thanks for reading :D**


End file.
